Sectional cap type safety razor with captive nut means to move the cap carrier



' Feb. 16, 1965 @m M w W 1 3 4 I 9 f 7 fig DA AR N ma 4d w Pw Tu ARES wwmm MEMd MP A m SECTIONAL CAP United States Patent 3,169,314 SECTIONAL CA1 TYPE SAFETY RAZGR WITH CAPTIVE NUT MEANS T0 MGVE THE CA? CARRIER Peter Michael Frederick Watson, Old Windsor, England,

assignor to The Gillette Company, Boston, Mass., a corporation of Delaware Fiied Mar. 5, H63, Ser. No. 262,989 Claims priority, application Great Britain, Mar. 7, 1952, 8,756/ 62 3 Claims. (Cl. 30-605) This invention relates to safety razors of the type in which a thin flexible blade is clamped between a blade support and a cap which is in two sections which, in use, overlie the blade but can be swung away from each other to release and expose the blade for removal, the cap sections being mounted on a carrier (sometimes called a spider) which is moved vertically, relative to the blade support to produce the required movements of the cap sections.

More particularly the invention is concerned with the mechanism for moving the cap members to and from their closed or clamping and their open positions.

In accordance with the invention there is provided a safety razor of the type described, wherein the blade support is fixed to a handle, and the carrier is moved by means of a captive nut rotatably mounted on and surrounding the handle, near the upper end thereof, the nut having threaded engagement with an operating member connected to the carrier.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a novel safety razor of simplified construction which is readily assembled from a small number of parts.

Other and further objects will be apparent from the drawings and the description which follows.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a view in elevation, partly broken away and in section showing one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a view in section taken along line 2-2 of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 3 is an isometric view showing several of the parts separated from each other.

A preferred form of the invention, as shown in the drawing, will be described, for the sake of convenience, as being in a vertical position with the head uppermost.

The razor comprises a handle A fixed to a blade support B, a carrier or spider C and two cap sections D pivotally mounted on the carrier. The blade support, carrier and cap sections are of known form and may for example take the form described in prior US. Patent No. 1,956,175.

The handle A consists of upper and lower portions 1 and 2, the upper portion 1 being secured to the blade support B. The upper portion is hollow and houses an operating spindle 4 which is slidable axially of the handle and is fixed to spider C on which caps D,D are pivoted. A key or insert 5 is slidably mounted in a cut away portion or vertical slot 9 in the wall of the handle portion 1. The insert 5, which can move vertically in the slot includes a threaded portion 14 extending radially outwardly through slot 12 in the spindle 4 for engagement with the threads of a nut 6, which is rotatably supported on, and surrounds the slotted part of the handle portion 1 but is captive between shoulders 7 and 8 on the upper and lower handle portions respectively. A reduced portion 16 of spindle 4 seats in a groove 18 in key or insert 5 with the shoulders 17 and 17 at opposite ends of reduced portion 16 engaging the top and bottom faces of insert 5.

In the drawing, the spindle 4, stem (and thus the carrier C) are shown in their extreme position for closing the cap sections D and clamping a blade E against the blade support B. By rotating the nut 6, the insert 5 and spindle 4 will be moved upwardly relative to the handle to unclamp and expose the blade. Because of the location of the nut 6 near the upper end of the handle, the user can rotate the nut with the thumb and forefinger of the hand in which the handle is held, thus leaving the other hand free for loading or unloading a blade. It will be seen that the design of the razor imposes no limitation as to the size of nut that can be used, so that the nut can be made large enough to grip and manipulate comfortably. Also, the size of the nut is such as to allow the provision of a thread having a large pitch, for fast action, but a low helix angle so that a firm locking action can be 'obtained between the nut and the insert 5. Preferably, as sh )wn, the thread is of trapezoidal form, and is less liable to wear, jamming and sticking than a thread of conventional V form.

The upper handle portion 1, which houses the moving parts, is of metal, so as to be able to withstand abrasion due to sliding contact with the spindle 4. The upper portion also provides the entire cylindrical bearing surface for the nut 6.

On the other hand, since the lower portion 2 has no sliding contact with the spindle 4, and only has contact at the shoulder 8 with the nut 6, the selection of material from which it is made can be based as considerations of manufacturing convenience and cost, appearance and how the handle will feel to a user, without regard to its resistance to wear from moving parts. Conveniently, the lower portion is molded in a synthetic plastic material.

The fact that the handle is fixed to the head of the razor gives rise to several advantages over known razors in which the handle is rotated relative to the head to perform clamping and unclamping operations:

(1) The handle has a satisfying feel of solidity to the user, and, together with the blade support, forms a sound base upon which the moving parts are mounted;

.(2) The lower portion 2 can be given any desired shape (to enhance the appearance of the razor and to make the razor comfortable to grip), without regard to the possibility (as in the above-mentioned known razors) of the handle returning to different positions of angular adjustment relative to the razor head;

(3) The head of the razor can be maintained in any position to suit the user while he operates the clamping mechanism and loads or unloads a blade.

A razor of the above described construction can be easily and cheaply manufactured to give a long and satisfactory useful life.

Although specific embodiments of the invention have been described herein, it is not intended to limit the invention solely thereto, but to include all of the variations and modifications which suggest themselves to persons skilled in the art.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

l. A safety razor comprising a blade support fixed to a hollow elongated handle, a spider carrying a pair of pivoted caps fixed to a spindle mounted for axial movement within said handle to carry said spider and caps to and from open and closed position with respect to said blade support, said handle including an elongated slot opening into its hollow interior and a nut covering said slot mounted for rotation about the axis of the handle in axially fixed position thereon, and means connecting said spindle to the threads of the out through the slot, whereby rotation of said nut with respect to the handle moves said spindle axially of the handle.

2. A safety razor as claimed in claim '1 in which said 7 'saiddspindle, the second part being synthetic plastic and spindle has a reduced portion adjacent the slot which secured to the first part to retain said nut against axial terminates in projecting shoulders and said means commovement. 7

' prises an insert having a threaded outer face mating with V 7 the threads ot'said nut and having opposing end faces '5 References Cited i th fil 0f hisp n't engaging against said shoulders, said insert being movable, UNITED STATES PATENTS axially of said slot upon rotation of said nut.

3. A safety razor as claimed in claim 2 in which said l a 'T S 1 handle is in two parts, the first part being metallic and By et a ay fixed to said blade support andficarrying said nut and 10 r g f' June 1962 

1. A SAFETY RAZOR COMPRISING A BLADE SUPPORT FIXED TO A HOLLOW ELONGATED HANDLE, A SPIDER CARRYING A PAIR OF PIVOTED CAPS FIXED TO A SPINDLE MOUNTED FOR AXIAL MOVEMENT WITHIN SAID HANDLE TO CARRY SAID SPIDER AND CAPS TO AND FROM OPEN AND CLOSED POSITION WITH RESPECT TO SAID BLADE SUPPORT, SAID HANDLE INCLUDING AN ELONGATED SLOT OPENING INTO ITS HOLLOW INTERIOR AND A NUT COVERING SAID SLOT MOUNTED FOR ROTATION ABOUT THE AXIS OF THE HANDLE IN 